O+E explanations for the failure of dieting

Restraint Theory AO1

HERMAN AND MACK 1975-restriction of eating actually increased the the probability of overeating-BOUNDARY MODEL (Herman and Poliny) explains this-->hunger works to keep food intake above minimum+satiety works to keep intake below max-Dieters have a larger range between hunger and satiety, so it takes longer for them to get hungry, but more food to reach satiety-Dieters set themselves desired lev of food intake-once they break this they eat all the way until they feel satiated-"what the hell effect"

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Restraint theory AO2

Support from Wandle and Beales (1998)-Obese, female Ps split them into groups of dieters, exercise and non-treatment+analysed their intake and appetite before and after preload snack+through stressful conditions-Dieters ate more than the other groups-Shows that once the dieters break their self-imposed boundary they will over eat-signpost-lab exp-high control+easier to draw causal conclusions -more internally val-small sample+gender bias-low external val

Unsupporting-Ogden (2007)-dieters do experience episodes of over-eating, the theory doesnt explain how they are able to still lose masses of weight? some psych drives here-only takes in bio drives and not psych-reductionist in this sense and deterministic.

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Role of denial AO1

Attempting to suppress thought brings it to the forefront of mind, Wegner (1987) asked P's not to think of white bear/to think of white bear, and those who suppressed the thoughts thought of the bear the most. Wegner called this the theory of ironic processes of mental control-relate to dieting in that the denied food becomes harder to suppress

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Role of Denial AO2

Supporting ev from Soetens et al- split Ps into groups of unrestrained and restrained, and then low and high disinhibition. Restrained highly disinhibited groups used thought suppression to stop thinking about food but this resulted in a rebound effect and them over eating--supporting

-relies on self report on their cognitive processes-demand characteristics-say they felt things that they havent-decreasing internal val

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Alternative exp+ IDA

Genetic explanations-natural weight determined by genetics, not psych factorseg, they might have gene that codes for lipoprotein lipase, which is an enzyme proudced by fat cells to store calories, making it easier to regain weight-failure of dieting down to gene and not psych factors in role of denial or restraint theory by dieters-it is pre-determined and not down to free will

Cultural bias- heavy cultural bias in the western cultures-others tend to be inclined to weight gain-Park et al's study-asian adults more prone to obesity than european-cannot be generalised+lacks val of these explanations

Gender bias- studies focused on women-beta, and so doesnt give us much info about males attitudes to dieting-we should conduct research here as males may be different-we need to enrich understanding of their eating.